elsewhere, people like bonnie riddick of lodi, new jersey returned to their homes to find a daunting clean-up ahead of them. >> this is my second flood in five years. i'm getting the hell out of here. so, my whole apartment i can't get back in for like a month, two months, until we gut all the walls, do all the electrical work again. so annoying. >> brown: power outages and flooding also meant that summer vacation will last a few days longer for schools across new england. a number of districts delayed the start of the new school year, which had been set for this week. >> we've got to ensure that we can get them here safely, that we have food products that haven't been perished or compromised by having no power in the school, and that we can get our staff in as well. >> brown: in all, some two million homes and businesses are still in the dark, from new england on down to north carolina. and, as the states continued to tally the damage from irene, president obama declared major disasters in new york and north carolina. he also planned to visit paterson, new jersey on sunday, to view